Driver Ernie McMillan is the envy of DHL colleagues at Sainsbury’s Langlands Park distribution centre in East Kilbride after taking delivery of a very special new truck.
Ernie will keep his ‘personalised’ Mercedes Axor X for 12 months, after winning Sainsbury’s 2009 Driver of the Year competition.
Nearly 600 drivers took part in the contest. A series of local events saw them whittled down to just 15 – each representing a different depot – who battled it out in a grand final staged at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire and supported by Mercedes-Benz UK.
Ernie emerged victorious after an action-packed day which, as well as truck manoeuvring tests, included skid car, 4×4 and oval circuit challenges.
He and wife Alice had already enjoyed their prize of a luxury weekend hotel break, complete with Mercedes SLK- Class sports car. So the arrival of his new truck, which was presented to Ernie as he finished a night shift run to Aberdeen and back, came as a complete surprise.
“I still can’t quite believe it,” says Ernie, who has been driving trucks for 22 years, the last six of them with Sainsbury’s. “The Axor X is a really nice drive, very spacious and comfortable. It’s also a real head- turner and is attracting a lot of comment – our standard cab colour is white, of course, so the other drivers I work with have dubbed my truck the ‘Black Pearl’.”
The fuel-efficient Mercedes Axor is the tractor unit of choice for several of Britain’s biggest supermarkets. Sainsbury’s took delivery of its first 130 Axor in 2007; it now operates a fleet of nearly 650 and recently ordered another 135, all of which are due to enter service by December.
Launched last year, the Axor X boasts a host of additional features aimed at drivers, including a multi- adjustable air-sprung driver’s seat, a Bluetooth-enabled stereo, a dash trimmed in high-quality brushed steel- effect trim and an electric sunroof with tinted glass, as well as the acclaimed Mercedes PowerShift 12-speed automated transmission.
